I dont play video games nearly enough. xD But that sounds interesting. I googled Total War and it looks like there are a lot. Empire looks pretty cool as well. Do you get to choose which side to play as?
I didnt know that about the ancien regime. I always thought it was protestantism and liberalism that were major forces in ending the ancien regime, with of course WWI finishing off the Hohenzollerns, Habsburgs, Romanovs, and stuff. But the ancien regime had a lot of centralization, in particular with Louis XIV and Frederick the Great. You could count Bismarck and Emmanuel II for uniting Germany and Italy respectively I guess.
How did historical politics in China affect Communist China?